Page 10 of Villainous Intent

I looked over at Stephanie’s wrist. The small display embedded in the cuff of her jacket was dark. The repulsor system was offline.

My heart rate kicked up a notch. Two safety systems down simultaneously were not ideal. I glanced over the edge of the building. The faint blue shimmer that indicated active safety fields was conspicuously absent.

Well, shit.

“Stephanie,” I said, trying to keep my voice casual so as not to spook her. “Why don’t you step back a bit? The rain’s making the ledge slippery.”

She looked at me with confusion. “But the anchors⁠—”

“Just humor me,” I said, already moving closer to her.

The building shuddered beneath us. A stray blast from Obsidian had struck the structure several floors below, sending vibrations racing up the steel frame. I saw the section under Stephanie’s feet beginning to crumble enough to throw her off balance.

“Move!” I lunged forward, shoving her backward with both hands. She stumbled onto the solid portion of the observation deck with a startled cry as the ledge beneath my feet gave way. One second I was standing on solid ground, the next, nothing but air beneath me.

Rain pelted my face as gravity took hold. My stomach lurched into my throat, the ground below rushing up to meet me with terrifying speed. I couldn’t even scream as my lungs froze in panic.

The city blurred into neon smears. Concrete rushed up. Rain in my eyes, my mouth.

I screamed as something collided with me in midair. Arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me tight against a hard chest.

I couldn’t see anything through the downpour or the blur of motion. Water stung my eyes, forcing them shut as the grip around me tightened.

The sensation of wind rushing past gradually slowed as we descended. My stomach was still somewhere up near my throat when my feet finally touched down on the ledge of another rooftop. I didn’t know exactly where I was, but at least I was only three stories up now.

When I tried to put weight on my legs, my knees gave out and the arms tightened around my waist, keeping me upright when gravity seemed determined to introduce my face to the ground.

“Turns out you can’t fly either.”

Oh god.

That voice. It was deep and rough and too close to my ear. Cipher had caught me. The Villain I spent my nights fantasizing about had just snatched me out of midair and was now holding me to him.

“You can let go,” I managed. My voice trembled, sounding reedy against the roar of the rain.

“I could,” he agreed.

Instead of releasing me, he turned me in his arms until my chest was flush against his. Rain ran between us, but heat still bled through his suit into my skin and I hated how much my body wanted to chase it.

He tilted my chin up and his thumb settled against the pulse point of my throat. He could feel it—the frantic, stupid rhythm of my heart, giving me away.

“I saved your life, Keeper.” His voice hit lower this time, quieter, made for just the two of us.

“Thank you,” I whispered, and I meant it, even knowing what a mistake it was to mean it.

“I don’t want your gratitude.” His thumb moved, tracing along my jaw, and I forgot how to breathe. “I don’t do charity. Everything has a price.”

The rain kept falling. Neither of us moved.

“What price?”

“A taste.”

He leaned down slowly enough that I could have stopped him. Could have done a million other things my training insisted I do around dangerous Supers.

I didn’t do any of them.

His mouth came down on mine and every warning bell in my head went silent at once. The shock of it made me gasp and he used the opening instantly, his tongue sweeping into my mouth to taste me.